


The Other Side

by cosimas



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, jillian is a fuckign moron but a genius at the same time, there's a happy ending i promise, this is what happens when i watch old movies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 22:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8865253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosimas/pseuds/cosimas
Summary: Holtzmann takes drastic measures to defeat an entity that is way too strong for them.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm working on the updates for the other fics, but this wouldn't leave me alone!

The only thing Erin felt was pain.

As she pushed herself up from the floor after having been slammed into the wall again, all she could focus on was how she couldn’t catch her breath. The proton pack had pressed hard into her back and she was fairly certain that a rib or two was broken. Faintly, she registered Patty leaning down next to her and mouthing something unintelligible. She blinked, and Patty seemed to come into more focus. Her hearing returned and she nodded weakly when Patty asked if she was okay.

“What the hell is this thing!?” Abby shouts from across the basement of the decrepit house they were inside. “It’s a class five at least!”

“Must have slipped through the portal during the summoning ceremony!” Holtz shouts in reply.

They had started investigating a group who, to their surprise and utter disgust, idolized Rowan’s ideals. While they believed in his vision, none of them had his genius. To the Ghostbusters, they were nothing more than a group of amateurs who gathered to talk about Rowan and wish they could bring his plan to fruition. So, after a few days of digging, all four of them had decided it was a non-issue. Actually, it had been Erin who insisted they weren’t dangerous. That had been about three months ago. So, you could imagine their surprise when it turned out that the little cult had been successful in opening an interdimensional portal. It was only thanks to a handy little invention of Holtzmann’s that they were able to detect and locate the rift.

When they had busted in, the group was in a panic. They didn’t know how to control what they had started, and some had already been pulled into the portal themselves. The others fled, leaving the four ghostbusters to clean up the mess. They had begun to start a plan to close the portal when the entity they were currently fighting had flown out of it. To Erin, it didn’t look like it came from this or the other dimension. It was otherworldly, with an angry red glow and sharp claws. It snarled at the four women as Abby and Holtz tried to keep it contained with their proton guns. It seemed like it was too strong.

“Help them,” Erin wheezes. “They need you.”

Patty sets her face and nods, swinging her gun around and firing at it. It shrieks loud enough that Erin has to snap her hands to her ears and the others are brought to their knees.

“It isn’t working!” Abby screams as the energy from the portal whipped her hair around.

Erin lifts her head in time to see Holtz let go of the trigger on her gun and take the pack off her shoulders. She had a determined look on her face that Erin noticed she only had when she was working hard on an idea. She yanks off her yellow glasses and throws them aside.

“I know what to do!” Holtz shouts. “I have an idea, so just trust me!”

She leans down and started ripping cords and wires out of her proton pack. With a concerned yet curious expression, she watches Holtz snap two exposed ends and send sparks in the air.

“Who here has seen Frighteners?”

Abby and Patty just continued to struggle with the ghost, but Erin slowly realized what she is intending to do. Her girlfriend had forced her to watch that cheesy movie about a million times. The confused look on her face is replaced with horror, and she immediately shakes her head. The movement causes pain to explode behind her eyes, but she doesn’t care.

“Holtzmann, don’t you dare!”

“It’s alright Er-Bear! The only way this ghost is going back in the portal is if another ghost forces him. I’ll only be dead for a couple of minutes. You bring me back, Michael J. Fox style!”

“ _Jillain_ —“

She has no time to argue before Holtz grasps the live wires with her hands and immediately goes stock still. It is nothing like how Rowan died in front of them, screaming and convulsing. Holtzmann’s eyes roll back in their sockets and veins bulge out on her neck and forehead before she collapses to the floor. Erin lets out a strangled sob and begins to crawl over to her, not caring about anything else. _No no no no this can’t be happening._

The ghost actually _grabs_ the proton stream and uses it to whip Patty right into Abby, and they both groan where they lay in a heap on the floor. Erin doesn’t notice. She’s crying and struggling to breathe as she grasps onto Holtzmann’s jumpsuit. She’s not breathing, and her half-lidded eyes stare out at nothing in particular. Her girlfriend, _the love of her life_ , is laying there dead in front of her. She hadn’t even told her she loved her yet. Holtzmann was so happy and full of energy, and now there was nothing in her expression. It felt wrong. It felt cold.

“Wow, glad I didn’t pee myself when I died. That would have been embarrassing.”

Erin snaps her head up to see Holtzmann floating above her. That smile she loves so much is on her face, dimples and all. Before she can form words, Holtz zips away from her, barreling for the ghost that was on its way to finish off Abby and Patty.

“Nobody messes with my family!” Holtz shouts and wraps her arms around its neck.

It shrieks again and Erin can only watch the ghostly battle that ensues. The long claws slash at Holtz, but don’t quite reach. She gets tossed off a couple of times, but manages to get back on, punching the thing in the side of the head whenever she gets the chance. _It’s taking too long._ The human brain can only go, what, six minutes without oxygen before damage starts to occur? Erin looks back at Holtzmann’s body and shrugs off her own pack, letting out whimpers of pain. Gritting her teeth, she places her hands on Holtzmann’s chest and begins to do compressions. It’s only when Abby pulls her back so Patty can take over that she looks back at ghost-Jillian.

“Yee-haw!” Holtz shouts and whistles. “Ride ‘em cowgirl!”

“Holtz, stop playing around and get that thing in the portal!” Abby screams because she knows Erin is to hurt to do it.

“You got it, Abby!”

Holtz begins dragging it back, trying to angle them towards the opening. It seems too strong to be pulled, so Holtz does the only thing she can think of. She hops off and flies towards it, knocking them both into the portal. The pain in Erin’s chest now has nothing to do with broken ribs. The portal begins to close, and Erin chokes on more sobs while Patty continues her CPR efforts.

“She fell,” Erin cries, “i-into the portal. She fell!”

“We’ll get her back,” Abby says, making her lay down. “Come on Holtz, damn it.”

The room stills as the portal closes completely. Surely it had been more than six minutes. Holtz still wasn’t moving, and Erin couldn’t tear her eyes away from her face.

“It’s not working…” Patty huffs, tears filling her eyes. “It should have worked by now.”

“Move,” Erin says, pushing past Abby and ignoring both of their protests to stay still.

She resumes her chest compressions and blows air into Jillian’s mouth. Her lips, which had once been so warm and soft, were now cold to the touch and beginning to turn a ghastly shade of blue.

“Holtz, I swear to god,” she wheezes. “If you die, I am going to kill you. You can’t leave me.”

Abby places a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugs it off. In one last effort, she brings the side of her fist down onto Holtzmann’s chest, and they all watch as Holtzmann’s body shakes with the effort of taking in a breath. Color slowly returns to her face as she coughs and continues to breathe. Her eyes blink open and closed a few times, and instead of speaking, she raises one hand and gives them all a thumbs up.

Erin drops her face to Holtzmann’s chest and begins to sob, twisting her fists up in the jumpsuit. She feels Holtz cradle the back of her head and press kisses to the top of it.

“D-Don’t ever, don’t ever—“

“I won’t do it again,” Holtz rasps out.

“I love you, you idiot,” she holds onto Holtz for dear life.

“Erin,” Holtzmann’s voice is tender in the way she usually only heard when they were alone. “Erin, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

There is a slight pause before Holtz speaks again.

“And I love you too.”

 

-fin-


End file.
